Determination of critical slip surface and safety factor of slope using the vector sum numerical manifold method and MAX-MIN ant colony optimization algorithm

The numerical manifold method (NMM) has been used to solve geotechnical problems with valuable results. In this paper, a numerical model based on the NMM is proposed to investigate two primary concerns in slope stability analyses, i.e., critical slip surface (CSS) determination and safety factor (Fs) calculation. In our proposed numerical model, the optimization algorithm of MAX-MIN ant colony (MMACOA), which is considered to be an algorithm with the best performance for such optimization problems, will be used to determine CSS. In the process of determining the CSS, the trial safety factor for a trial slip surface is calculated with the vector sum method (VSM) according to the stress field produced by an NMM analysis. Accuracy of the numerical model is validated with three typical examples. The numerical model has great potential in the evaluation of stability of real slopes.

Automated summary

The numerical manifold method has been used to solve geotechnical problems with valuable results. This paper proposes a numerical model based on NMM for investigating CSS determination and Fs calculation in slope stability analyses, using the MMACOA algorithm and VSM calculation method, and the accuracy is validated with typical examples. The numerical model shows great potential in evaluating the stability of real slopes.